Loading ...In honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, we would like to recognize special achievements made by Billie Jean King.
“I went through a 10-year period when I was binge eating. I was huge. But it’s ironic, because I’ve always known a lot about nutrition…. These days, I really watch my carbs. I never get tired of vegetables and I don’t eat more than two pieces of fruit a day. Also, I want everyone to know how important it is to use the information that testing gives you. If you are having trouble keeping your glucose in a normal range, talk to your doctor. Don’t let it go.” ~ Billie Jean King, in Rite Aid’s magazine Inner Strength
Billie Jean King is a champion of sports and humanity. She’s not just about tennis, though she won 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles tennis titles, including a record 20 titles at Wimbledon. If you look at her bio it includes a Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by President Obama, a spot on “Life Magazine’s” list of top 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century, and she is Global Mentor for Gender Equality by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. She supports women in sports and speaks out to promote environmentalism in sports.
King, who is now 66, learned in 2006 that she has type 2 diabetes. But long before that diagnosis the super star had been supporting diabetes-related causes. She established the Donnelly Awards in 1998, a scholarship program for young men and women ages 14-21 living with diabetes who play competitive tennis. The awards are named after two long-time World Team Tennis executives and tennis champions, Diane Donnelly Stone and Tracey Donnelly Maltby, who are sisters. Stone was an All-American and NCAA doubles champion at Northwestern University, and Maltby earned All-Big Ten honors at the University of Iowa. Both women have lived successfully with diabetes since childhood. Novo Nordisk, a world leader in diabetes care, has been the title sponsor of the award since 2002.
King, who helped found World Team Tennis in 1974, said in an interview with Health.com, “The awards are named after tennis players Diane Donnelly Stone and Tracey Donnelly Maltby, who both worked at World Team Tennis. Diane got type 1 when she was 6 and Tracey when she was 14. So I wanted to do something for them.”
The news of her own diabetes didn’t come as a complete surprise. Type 1 diabetes runs in her family and she was always surrounded by people with the disease. She told Health.com, “Diabetes is something that’s been in my life and that now I’m dealing with personally.”
Previous to her diagnosis, King said that she suffered from binge eating, so taking control of carbohydrate and sugar intake has been a challenge. In addition to losing weight and modifying her diet, she takes Metformin and exercises regularly. She also says that getting enough sleep helps her eat less.
Since her diagnosis, King has been inspired to help spread the message for people to take charge of their health and to get screened for the disease. She was a spokesperson for the Be The Face of Change traveling photo exhibit. In an article about King’s diabetes, “Ladies Home Journal” asked what advice she’d give to a person newly diagnosed with the disease. She said: “Just know that you can live a normal, wonderful, terrific, active life…. Every person I know who has diabetes has actually gotten a lot of good from it. They’re still very excited about living and want to do more with their life sometimes because of it.”
By: Anne Burkley
Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Jean_King
